Critics ignored the writing and focused instead on the attributes of the writer. Mary Ellman once observed that male criticism of women’s literature often boiled down to ‘a literary measuring of busts and hips’. Big names may generate big profits, but do they produce anything feminists might actually want to read? Debbie Cameron put one of this year’s most hyped celebrity offerings, Germaine Greer’s The Whole Woman, to the test… In the 1990s, a great deal of public discussion of gender issues has revolved around books by ‘celebrity’ feminists (and celebrity antifeminists like Camille Paglia and Katie Roiphe). Feminism is not exempt from this tendency. Increasing pressure to maximise profits has encouraged a publishing ‘cult of celebrity’: books are sold on the strength of the author’s name rather than on the strength of the ideas inside them, and the effort put into promoting a book is directly proportional to the fame of the writer. Today’s publishing industry is controlled by huge conglomerates, driven by market forces and obsessed with the bottom line. For anyone interested in the future of womanhood, The Whole Woman is a must-read.This article originally appeared in T&S Issue 39, Summer 1999. Whether it's liposuction or abortion, Barbie or Lady Diana, housework or sex work, Greer always has an opinion, and as one of the most brilliant, glamorous, and dynamic feminists of all time, her opinions matter. She mordantly attacks "lifestyle feminists" who blithely believe they can have it all, and argues for a fuller, more organic idea of womanhood. With passionate rhetoric, outrageous humor, and the authority of a lifetime of thought and observation, she trains a sharp eye on the issues women face at the turn of the century.įrom the workplace to the kitchen, from the supermarket to the bedroom, Greer exposes the innumerable forms of insidious discrimination and exploitation that continue to plague women around the globe.
In this thoroughly engaging new book, the fervent, rollicking, straight-shooting Greer, is, as ever, "the ultimate agent provocateur" ( Mirabella).
No feminist writer can match her for eloquence or energy none makes laugh the way she does."- The Washington Post Thirty years after the publication of The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer is back with the sequel she vowed never to write.
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